The Enough Project conducts intensive on-the-ground field research in Congo, develops practical policies to address the crisis, and shares sensible tools to help empower citizens and groups working for change.
See all Congo Publications on the Enough Project website.
Featured Enough Project Reports
A Window for Reform in Eastern Congo: November's Elections and Three Achievable Steps on Conflict Minerals
November 2011
The final lead-up to Congo’s elections marks a pivotal moment for reform and conflict prevention in eastern Congo. Before the November 28 scheduled vote, the Congolese government is desperate to deliver services to eastern Congo, a region that strongly supported President Joseph Kabila in the 2006 election but where his support has waned because of continued war. The Congolese government can help boost public opinion in the East and prevent the outbreak of violence by initiating reforms that would have a lasting impact on ending the conflict. The legislation U.S. President Barack Obama signed in July 2010 addressing the war’s financial driver, conflict minerals, has further opened the window for reform, and the Obama administration must follow up on it with additional action.
U.S. Congo Policy: Matching Deeds to Words to End the World's Deadliest War
October 2011
More than two years have passed since Secretary of State Hillary Clinton traveled to eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in August 2009, marking the highest level U.S. visit ever to the war-torn region. Beyond the usual palliatives of solidarity with survivors of the violence, the secretary expressed a strong commitment to addressing the causes of conflict and unconscionable loss of human life—estimated to exceed 5 million, the deadliest since World War II.
Certification: The Path to Conflict-Free Minerals from Congo
May 2011
Read the Activist Brief. The conflict minerals movement is gaining traction. The movement is a pragmatic effort to address one of the principal drivers of atrocities and conflict throughout Congo’s tortured history: the scramble for control of Congo's vast mineral resources. In eastern Congo today, these mineral resources are financing multiple armed groups, many of whom use mass rape as a deliberate strategy to intimidate and control local populations. Armed groups and military units earn hundreds of millions of dollars per year by trading four main minerals: the ores that produce tin, tantalum, tungsten, and gold. This money enables the militias to self-finance their campaign of brutal violence against civilians, with some of the worst abuses occurring in mining areas.
May 2011
Read the Activist Brief. The conflict minerals movement is gaining traction. The movement is a pragmatic effort to address one of the principal drivers of atrocities and conflict throughout Congo’s tortured history: the scramble for control of Congo's vast mineral resources. In eastern Congo today, these mineral resources are financing multiple armed groups, many of whom use mass rape as a deliberate strategy to intimidate and control local populations. Armed groups and military units earn hundreds of millions of dollars per year by trading four main minerals: the ores that produce tin, tantalum, tungsten, and gold. This money enables the militias to self-finance their campaign of brutal violence against civilians, with some of the worst abuses occurring in mining areas.
Why a Certification Process for Conflict Minerals is Urgent: A View from North Kivu
February 2011
The growing movement to bring a long overdue end to the crisis in eastern Congo is approaching a make-or-break decision point. The international architecture needed to bring transparency and accountability to the minerals trade in the Great Lakes region of Africa is taking shape in the form of U.S. legislation, a U.N. Security Council resolution, and an emerging norm for due diligence on purchasing minerals. These are enormous accomplishments, but unless these standards are accompanied by an international certification process with independent monitoring and enforceable penalties on the ground, as well as comprehensive reform of the Congolese Army, they will do little to end the conflict minerals trade in Congo or bring a measure of security and genuine economic opportunity to the lives of Congolese civilians.
Getting to Conflict-Free: Assessing Corporate Action on Conflict Minerals
December 2010
Violent conflict has persisted in eastern Congo for more than a decade and a half, causing more death than any war since World War II. Although Congo’s conflict stems from long-standing grievances, the trade in conflict minerals provides the primary fuel for the conflict. Worth hundreds of millions of dollars per year, the conflict minerals trade provides incentives for rebel groups, militias, and criminal networks within the Congolese army to control strategic mines and trading routes through patterns of violent extraction and deeply exploitative behavior.
Congo’s Enough Moment: The Case for Conflict Minerals Certification and Army Reform
October 2010
At rare moments during the course of a war, a confluence of factors come together to provide a window of opportunity for real conflict transformation. Now Congo has a unique opportunity to bring an end to more than 125 years of having its people and resources pillaged by colonial powers, international traders, neighbors, and foreign and domestic armed groups. Growing international attention to atrocities in Congo, both recent and historical, and widespread interest in conflict minerals has shined a spotlight on eastern Congo as it has never done before—from the U.S. Congress, from regional heads of state, and from multinational companies. This has opened a significant new window for policy reform and it is time for the U.S. government and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to help leverage the end of the war in eastern Congo through leadership on two of the issues that will catalyze a broader solution to the cycles of violence there: minerals certification and comprehensive army reform.
Digging In: Recent Developments on Conflict Minerals
Jan 5, 2010
Congo’s mineral wealth continues to play a central role in the country’s conflict dynamics. Despite the upsurge in displacement and atrocities during 2009, multinational companies continue to purchase minerals from the war zone.
From Mine to Mobile Phone: The Conflict Minerals Supply Chain
Nov 10, 2009
Enough experts lead you down the path of the 3Ts—tin, tantalum, tungsten—and gold from the mines of Eastern Congo all the way to your cell phone.
Select Field Dispatches from The Enough Project
Fidel Bafilemba, July 20, 2011
Violence is on the rise in eastern Congo, with attacks by the Rwandan FDLR rebel group increasing in recent months despite U.N. mission chief Roger Meese’s claims of “significant progress regarding the security situation in recent years in eastern DRC,” in a briefing to the U.N. Security Council last month.
Fidel Bafilemba, June 23, 2011
Born out of the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in eastern Congo, a group of prominent civil society organizations recently formed a coalition to address the linkage between natural resource exploitation and human rights abuses in the region.
Fidel Bafilemba, Oct 22, 2010
Congolese President Joseph Kabila’s sudden ban on mineral exports from three eastern provinces has left many observers in the region questioning the effectiveness of the directive. It has also reportedly made life difficult for experts at Congo’s mining ministry in Kinshasa, who have been struggling with how to implement and enforce the ban.
Field Dispatch: Conflict Minerals Windfall for Armed Forces in Eastern Congo
Aug 4, 2010
Whether within rebel groups and militias or the Congolese national army, or FARDC, senior commanders continue to benefit from Congo’s lucrative mineral trade. Striking examples of this trend are the staggering lifestyle and investments of some Congolese army officers here in the Kivus. Although official army salaries top out at 90,000 Congolese francs per month, less than $100, many Congolese generals and colonels own gas stations, run minerals exporters or ‘comptoirs’, and new buildings are sprouting up like mushrooms throughout cities of Goma, Bukavu, Butembo, Bunia and Kinshasa.
Field Dispatch: Controversy as Refugee Returns Exacerbate Land Conflicts
Jul 16, 2010
The return of Congolese refugees from neighboring Rwanda remains a particularly contentious issue here in North Kivu, eastern Congo. This Dispatch presents a closer look at some of the patterns of returns and specific types of land disputes that have emerged during the past months, and their potential to further destabilize the region.
